Cat Grooming Tips and Advice

• Author: Michael Bordonada
• Posted: 2024-08-09

Cats are certainly one of the most popular pets that people own, and many cat owners are definitely dedicated and love their pets. This love translates into a lot of money spent on professional grooming for cats. Unfortunately, the cost of cat grooming has gone up due to inflation just like the costs of everything else. Only instead of a few percentage points, pet grooming is up nearly 100%, and many people are freaking out because they believe that they must use an outside groomer. If you're a cat owner, this is not the case. You can groom your cat at home and get the same sort of results.

If you're willing to put in the time and effort, you should be able to do a great job at grooming your cat while also saving a whole lot of money since you won't have to go to a groomer and pay that inflated rate.

Comb Your Cat Often

While you will need to give your cat an occasional bath, cats do a great job of grooming themselves and licking themselves clean all over. What really bothers your cat a lot more than being dirty is having loose, thick fur, and things trapped in their fur. You can get rid of this problem very easily by combing through your cat's hair on a regular basis. You also don't need a fancy brush for this. A plastic comb should do the job just fine. Just make sure that you're doing this on a regular basis. Even if your cat doesn't have things trapped in their fur, they're still going to have loose fur that needs to be removed. This will also keep them from developing a lot of hairballs.

A lot of cat owners will comb their cats first thing in the morning, or before feeding times. You won't have to do this every day, but you should definitely comb them often.

Gentle Shampoo and Warm Water

Unless your cat has flea and/or tick problems, you won't need to get them any sort of fancy shampoo or soap to give them a bath. You can use a very simple shampoo to do the job. Think about something unscented; just something simple and cheap from the store. A lot of pet owners have personal use shampoo products that add volume, have a lot of crazy scents, etc. These are harsh shampoos that might irritate your cat's skin. Instead, make sure you're using something very simplistic for bathing your cat.

You can always purchase specific cat shampoo from a big box store or a pet store, but you certainly don't need to. A lot of these products cost a lot more than they're worth, especially with inflation. You can go that route with a cat-specific shampoo, or just use a basic product on them. Always be sure to use lukewarm water, never too hot and never cold. Make it comfortable for your cat, since they probably really hate water.

Clip Nails Early

One of the biggest reasons that people don't want to clip their pet's nails at home is that they believe they will hurt their pet. If you allow your pet's nails to grow very long, it is very likely that you're going to hurt them by hitting the 'quick,' that piece of skin that lives under the nails. However, if you catch your cat's claws before they get long, it's a very easy thing to get in there and knock off the excess nail growth with a pair of pet nail clippers. It's completely painless for your cat. The hardest part here is going to be holding your cat still. A lot of cat owners will do this while they're sleeping.

Keep in mind that you need some good clippers and never try to use human clippers on your cat. Also, make sure that they're sharp and can easily clip through the nails. Most injuries are going to happen with dull blades because you will have to push or squeeze harder to make the cut.

If you can follow these few simple cat grooming tips, you should be able to groom your cat at home, which is going to save you a lot of time and money compared to going to a professional groomer to get the same sort of result.